a thread opens
And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he says, I came down from heaven?
The Vigil
Today’s scroll, one verse at a time — each linked to the last by the cross-references rather than by any model of you. The same vigil for everyone, and a different one tomorrow.
And all bore him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son?
from John 6:42
You are fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into your lips: therefore God has blessed you for ever.
from Luke 4:22
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we saw his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
from Psalms 45:2
a thread opens
Then Moses said to Aaron, This is it that the LORD spoke, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come near me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace.
And said to me, You are my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.
from Leviticus 10:3
Look, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.
from Isaiah 49:3
Look, the days come, says the LORD, that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
from Isaiah 52:13
And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:
from Jeremiah 23:5 · a strong link
In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and beautiful for them that have escaped of Israel.
from Isaiah 11:1 · a strong link
But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.
from Isaiah 4:2
a thread opens
Now to him that is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight:
from Jude 1:24 · a strong link
Therefore, my brothers, you also have become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that you should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, so that we should bring forth fruit to God.
from Colossians 1:22
But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead in which we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
from Romans 7:4
But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
from Romans 7:6
And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
from Galatians 4:4
a thread opens
Woe to them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.
Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men:
from Jude 1:11
Our father died in the wilderness, and he was not in the company of them that gathered themselves together against the LORD in the company of Korah; but died in his own sin, and had no sons.
from Numbers 16:1
But among these there was not a man of them whom Moses and Aaron the priest numbered, when they numbered the children of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai.
from Numbers 27:3 · a strong link
And the space in which we came from Kadesh-barnea, until we had come over the brook Zered, was thirty-eight years; until all the generation of the warriors were wasted out from among the host, as the LORD swore to them.
from Numbers 26:64 · a strong link
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and its fullness.
from Luke 2:14
The LORD reigns; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be its glad.
from Psalms 96:11
The LORD reigns; let the people tremble: he sits between the cherubim; let the earth be moved.
from Psalms 97:1
a thread opens
And shall not God give justice to his own elect, which cry day and night to him, though he bear long with them?
But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.
from Luke 18:7
Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil.
from Jeremiah 20:11 · a strong link
Let them be confounded and consumed that are adversaries to my soul; let them be covered with reproach and dishonor that seek my hurt.
from Psalms 40:14
My tongue also shall talk of your righteousness all the day long: for they are confounded, for they are brought to shame, that seek my hurt.
from Psalms 71:13
And my tongue shall speak of your righteousness and of your praise all the day long.
from Psalms 71:24
My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD: and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever.
from Psalms 35:28
a thread opens
If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives to the death.
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith:
Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you are also called, and have professed a good profession before many witnesses.
from II Timothy 4:7 · a strong link
I give you charge in the sight of God, who quickens all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession;
from I Timothy 6:12
For as the Father raises up the dead, and quickens them; even so the Son quickens whom he will.
from I Timothy 6:13
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from John 6:42 along this chain. Today’s own vigil is laid separately.
Each verse follows the one before it along the chain a study Bible draws — a century old, public, and compiled by people arguing about Scripture rather than about how long you stay. Every card says which verse it came from and opens the chapter it belongs to. Today’s vigil is the same for every reader and is worked out from the date alone, so there is no account, no counter, and nothing stored in your browser or ours.
The text is the Lantern Modern Standard. The links are openbible.info’s cross-reference set (CC BY), the same apparatus behind the reader’s Echoes drawer. Read a whole book · Today’s table